Impact of a national nutritional support programme on loss to follow-up after tuberculosis diagnosis in Kenya

Abstract

Setting: Undernourishment is prevalent among tuberculosis (TB) patients. Nutritional support is given to TB patients to prevent and treat undernourishment; it is also used to improve treatment outcomes and as an incentive to keep patients on treatment.

Objective: To determine whether nutritional support is associated with a reduction in the risk of loss to follow-up (LTFU) among TB patients in Kenya.

Design: This was a retrospective cohort study using national programmatic data. Records of 362 685 drug-susceptible TB patients from 2012 to 2015 were obtained from Treatment Information from Basic Unit (TIBU), a national case-based electronic data recording system. Patients who were LTFU were compared with those who completed treatment.

Results: Nutrition counselling was associated with an 8% reduction in the risk of LTFU (RR 0.92, 95%CI 0.89-0.95), vitamins were associated with a 7% reduction (adjusted RR [aRR] 0.93, 95%CI 0.90-0.96) and food support was associated with a 10% reduction (aRR 0.90, 95%CI 0.87-0.94). Among patients who received food support, the addition of nutrition counselling was associated with a 23% reduction in the risk of LTFU (aRR 0.77, 95%CI 0.67-0.88).

Conclusion: Nutritional support was associated with a reduction in the risk of LTFU. Providing nutrition counselling is important for patients receiving food support.